Alright, you stated quite a bit here in just a few short sentences, so lets unpack some of this. Yes, I agree fully that SMS studios made a great game. I have always enjoyed the PCars series, if I didn't I would not be playing it currently. However, that doesn't mean I can not critique the game as it currently stands. From my observations there are two camps. People who love the game so much that they will bash anyone who critiques it or SMS studios, and those who enjoy the game but will point out flaws that should be/have been addressed by SMS. If you land in the camp that will critique the game's flaws you take a bunch of flak from hardcore fans. I obviously fall in the camp who enjoys the game but will point out its issues.
Now, the issues that I am advancing have to do the Mercedes AMG GT3 as it stands in game, and only this. I am not attacking SMS or claiming that they are the main problem. I would leave my issues with SMS's buisness model of PCars 2 for a separate post, as it is not related to my complaints from last night in the slightest. Before I begin to point out my issues with the Mercedes AMG GT3, lets define how much development and practice I have put into this car already:
Development Laps (RACE LAPS NOT INCLUDED)
Round 1 Zolder: +50 Laps
Round 2 Monza: +250 Laps
SRM Enduro COTA: +40 Laps
Round 3 Brands Hatch: +100 Laps
SRM Enduro Bathurst: +80 Laps
Round 4 Silver Stone: +80 Laps
Just in development time I have turned over +600 Laps! Thus, based on all this testing and tuning at various tracks I have been able to identify the biggest issue, "for me", with this car. The main issue with the Mercedes AMG GT3 is rear-end grip, regardless of Hard or Soft compounds. The car's fundamental balance is to understeer corner entry/mid, and then snap oversteer on exit. The snap oversteer is generated due to the amount of steering lock required to overcome the corner entry understeer. Thus, when the back end finally catches up with the front it snaps around.
In order to address this fundamental issue I have tried just about everything under the sun from aero balance, spring rate balance, sway bar balance, toe adjustment, and damper adjustments. No matter what you do to try and eliminate this behavior you end up either making it worse or just delaying it for when your tires drop to 90-95% wear remaining. In high speed stuff this becomes tricky cause once you load up the rear and begin to apply throttle around the rear-end comes. The only way to deal with this fundamental balance issue is to change your driving style. I don't blame SMS for this, if this is what they intended, then fine, this just isn't a car to my liking in the confines of their physics engine. If this is not what SMS intended then it was an oversight, and they should have addressed it last year in one of their patches.
In conclusion, this makes the car a nightmare to drive over a race, that is all I was pointing out last night. Yes, I was quick in the car, Yes, I won, but that doesn't mean I enjoyed my 90 minutes of driving on a knifes edge and being hyper in tune with every step-out of the rear end.
*Note - I have tested this car in Assetto Corsa and did not observe the same issues.
Yes, the car is the fastest in the GT3 line up. Yes, this is why I picked it. Yes, the car is a qualifying queen. No, I didn't know when I picked it it would be this difficult to driver over a race (my fault for not testing enough before submitting my pick). So, do I complain to much? perhaps, that is one's own opinion, but at least know my complaints are data based / driven.
*Also, just because someone is fast doesn't mean they are not allowed to critique and point out issues.
. Besides, I think even if the Police were able to extrapolate the image, I doubt they would.
